1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to improved data processing systems and in particular to a method and system for providing an improved interface for controlling a data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for providing a common hardware system console interface for controlling a number of different data processing systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hardware system console is a display device that is directly connected to a processor controller or service processor for a central processing complex (CPC). The hardware system console provides an end-user interface, which may be utilized to perform functions related to operational control of the CPC such as, for example, initialization, configuration, diagnosis, customization, and recovery. A CPC is defined as those portions of a system, exclusive of I/O control units and devices, that can be controlled by a single operating system. A CPC typically consists of main storage, one or more central processing units, time-of-day clocks, and channels, which are or can be placed in a single configuration. A CPC also may include channel subsystems, service processors, and expanded storage, where installed.
A user may interact with the hardware system console by means of full screen panels and/or single line commands. The hardware system console user interface is generally not consistent across various hardware types, i.e., processor families. As a result, a user working with multiple processor types installed at a site may be faced with an unnecessary level of operational complexity due to the fact that the same task on different CPCs must be accomplished utilizing a different set of user interface interactions. The result of this added complexity is a steep learning curve for the user. Consequently, either more users are needed to control multiple diverse systems or additional time and expense are required to train a user to control multiple systems.
An additional cost also is present to the manufacturer of hardware system consoles since each time a new feature or function is to be supported on multiple processor types, duplicate development effort is required to add the support of that feature or function to the user interfaces of hardware system consoles.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a hardware system console user interface that may be utilized on different hardware types while providing the same type of user interface interactions between different hardware types.